New Tools Allow Access to 10 GbE Networks, VTrak SAN over Thunderbolt 2

Promise Technology had new Thunderbolt 2 shared-storage devices at NAB, aiming them squarely at users in search of 4K workflow solutions.

The new Pegasus2 M4 is designed to be the most portable of the Pegasus2 RAID enclosures, reaching 4 TB of capacity using four 2.5-inch 1 TB drives. The device has Thunderbolt 2 connectivity. Like the rest of the Pegasus2 series, the M4 supports OS X 10.8.5 or higher, including Mavericks, and works with the new Mac Pro. Thunderbolt 2 support on Windows for the Pegasus2 line is due in the next couple of months, the company said.

10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) access was on the agenda, too. Promise showed the VTrak G1100 NAS Gateway, a 1U file server appliance that allows multiple users to connect to the VTrak A3800 shared-storage appliance via a 10 GbE front end so that they can edit video simultaneously. (Connectivity to the VTrak A-Class SAN is via 8 Gb Fibre Channel.)

The new SANLink2 10GBase-T is a bridge adapter that lets Macs connect to 10 GbE networks via Thunderbolt 2. With that kind of speed, the need to use proxies for editing goes away.

Promise said the new products, slated to ship in the second quarter, will make it easier for users to share media at a large facility, or to take their work off-site. The company's booth demo showed its products working with both the Mac Pro and a Thunderbolt 2-enabled HP Z820 workstation.

About the Author

Bryant Frazer has been covering production and post-production technology since 1998, when he wrote about video compression and disc replication technology as the editor of DVD Report. He is the editorial director and associate publisher of StudioDaily.

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